SCIENCE: Earth's most diverse marine life found off Indonesia's Papua Province

[EcoPolis]

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Earth's most diverse marine life found off Indonesia's Papua Province
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New species of sharks, shrimp, coral need protection

Washington, D.C. -- Two recent expeditions led by Conservation
International (CI) to the heart of Asia's "Coral Triangle" discovered
dozens of new species of marine life including epaulette sharks,
"flasher" wrasse and reef-building coral, confirming the region as the
Earth's richest seascape.

The unmatched marine biodiversity of the Bird's Head Seascape, named
for the shape of the distinctive peninsula on the northwestern end of
Indonesia's Papua province, includes more than 1,200 species of fish
and almost 600 species of reef-building (scleractinian) coral, or 75
percent of the world's known total.

Researchers described an underwater world of visual wonders, such as
the small epaulette shark that "walks" on its fins and colorful schools
of reef fish populating abundant and healthy corals of all shapes and
sizes.

Threats from over-fishing with dynamite and cyanide, as well as
deforestation and mining that degrade coastal waters, require immediate
steps to protect the unique marine life that sustains local
communities. The seascape's central location in the Coral Triangle of
the Pacific, which exports and maintains biodiversity in the entire
Indo-Pacific marine realm, makes it one of the planet's most urgent
marine conservation priorities.

"These Papuan reefs are literally 'species factories' that require
special attention to protect them from unsustainable fisheries and
other threats so they can continue to benefit their local owners and
the global community," said Mark Erdmann, senior adviser of CI's
Indonesian Marine Program, who led the surveys. "Six of our survey
sites, which are areas the size of two football fields, had over 250
species of reef-building coral each - that's more than four times the
number of coral species of the entire Caribbean Sea." Though human
population density in the region is low, the coastal people of the
Bird's Head peninsula are heavily dependent on the sea for their
livelihoods - which now are under threat from a plan to transfer
fishing pressures from Indonesia's over-fished western seas to the east
toward Papua province.

"The coastal villages we surveyed were mostly engaged in subsistence
fishing, farming and gathering, and they require healthy marine
ecosystems to survive," said Paulus Boli, a State University of Papua
researcher led the socioeconomic component of the expeditions. "We are
very concerned about the potential impact of planned commercial
fisheries expansion in the region, and we urge a precautionary approach
that emphasizes sustainability over intensive exploitation."

The two Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) surveys earlier this year, along
with a third expedition in 2001, studied waters surrounding Papua
province from Teluk Cenderawasih in the north to the Raja Ampat
archipelago off the western coast and southeast to the FakFak-Kaimana
coastline. A few hundred kilometers inland are Papua's Foja Mountains,
where a team led by CI and the Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI)
last year discovered a virtual "Lost World" of new species of birds,
butterflies, frogs and other wildlife.

Off the coast, researchers found more than 50 species of fish, coral
and mantis shrimp previously unknown to science in the Bird's Head
Seascape that covers 18 million hectares, including 2,500 islands and
submerged reefs. The seascape also includes the largest Pacific
leatherback turtle nesting area in the world, and migratory populations
of sperm and Bryde's whales, orcas and several dolphin species.

"We're thankful to the Ministry of Forestry and CI for the significant
data from these surveys, and we are excited to be planning further
surveys in 2007 to fill in remaining data gaps that will help us plan
the most effective management possible for this exceedingly crucial
area," said Dr. Suharsono, head of LIPI's Oceanography Center.

Only 11 percent of the seascape is currently protected, most of it in
the Teluk Cenderawasih National Park that is supported by the World
Wide Fund for Nature-Indonesia (WWF-Indonesia). Results of the CI-led
surveys highlight the need for a well-managed network of multiple-use
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to conserve the seascape's biodiversity
and ensure the long-term sustainability of commercial and subsistence
fishing.

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Partners in the two 2006 surveys funded by the Walton Family Foundation
included the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry's Department of Forest
Protection and Nature Conservation and its local offices in Papua;
Teluk Cenderawasih National Park Authority, the State University of
Papua, and WWF-Indonesia.

(Source: Conservation International)